Daylight, The Saving Time
I Thessalonians 5:5-11
1. Some people have it all wrong.
2. A man flew into Chicago & hired a taxi to take him downtown. As he was riding along they came to a red light & the driver went right on through the red light.
The man said, "Hey, the light was red. You’re supposed to stop." The driver said, "Yeah, I know, but my brother does it all the time."
Soon they came to a second red light & again he went right straight through. The passenger said, "You’re going to get us killed. That light was red. Why didn’t you stop?"
The driver said, "Don’t worry about it. My brother does it all the time."
Then they came to a green light & he stopped. The man said, "The light is green. Now is the time to go. Why don’t you go on through?"
The driver answered, "I know it’s green. But you never know when my brother may be coming through." [source: sermoncenrtal]
3. Have you ever felt like everyone in the world was crazy except for you and I, and you are not so sure about me?
4. With issues like gay marriage or the commonplace problem of illicit drugs, sometimes we have to scratch our heads and ask, "How did we get here?"
5. That is a complex question, and I do not have a simple answer. But I have a partial answer. Some of the incompatibility and tensions we face in daily life can be traced to conflict between two kingdoms, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. We know about this, but we do we do with it?
Main Idea: Those of us who are in Christ have great privileges, like a heads-up knowledge of end time events; nonetheless, with great privilege comes great responsibility.
TS -------------> > God has certain expectations of us.
The first expectation God has for us is to:
I. BECOME Who We ARE (5-8)
God anticipates, demands, and commands that we buckle down and get serious about our Christianity; He wants us to put it into action.
A. Who we are IN CHRIST (5)
I Peter 2:9, " But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
1. Sons of LIGHT and DAY
• You are all sons of the light and sons of the day
• Not a 2-tiered Christianity: spiritual and compromised
2. No longer in the age of NIGHT and Darkness
• We do not belong to the night
? ever find yourself somewhere you did not belong? A party that headed south? Maybe you have a lost family, and you want to and are there for them, but you know that you don’t fit in…
? it is not that we do venture into the Kingdom of night, but we do so as aliens
3. Already living in the Age to COME
I John 2:8 "Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining."
Hebrews 6:4-6a "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance…"
B. Who we are to become in DAILY LIFE (6-8)
1. UNLIKE others (6a)
? let us not be like others, who are asleep
? Who are these sleepers? -- unbelievers, but we have the potential to be like them!
? Some of us escape the tension of living among the Kingdom of Darkness by adopting the mentality of the natives. We dress like them, even if it is immodest. We follow the fads and we keep up with the Joneses; we let society set the agenda and we embrace it without thinking about it. We are spiritually sluggish.
2. AWAKE (6b-7a)
• I can think of a half dozen Christian people I would like to go to, sneak up on, and shout "wake up" right in their ear. The sad thing is that sometimes one of those persons is myself!
• In Romans 13:11, Paul deals with this same theme: "The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
• ???????’? = Vigilant, watchful (Gregory)
• Some of us are oblivious by nature. Others of us are selectively oblivious. Some Christians are alert about shopping, sports, work, money management, maybe even child-rearing -- but oblivious about spiritual things.
• Like a pinball, they bounce around from one corner to another with little purpose, direction, knowledge, or conviction. They are anything but alert.
• Alertness is a state of mind. God wants your mind and He wants your attention. He does not want you to be part of the spiritual attention deficit crowd.
3. SOBER (6b)
• Sober= not under the influence of alcohol, moral alertness, disciplined
4. SELF- CONTROLLED (7a)
• "Both sleeping and getting drunk are things generally done at night. Sleeping refers metaphorically to passive indifference; getting drunk to active sin." MacArthur
5. Properly armed with the Three VIRTUES (8)
if you really want to study the armor of God, you must begin with Isaiah 59:17
6. (We serve as) A PREVIEW to those still in the Age of Darkness
• ==> Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were transported back in time 200 years? How would you explain the inventions we take for granted? If you spoke of computers or DVDs or Ipods or even television, people would think you were sort of strange. We are from the future. One day, the Kingdom of Light will be established on the earth, but we already belong to that kingdom!
Those of us who are in Christ have great privileges, like a heads-up knowledge of end time events; nonetheless, with great privilege comes great responsibility.
The first expectation God has for us is to:. BECOME Who We ARE ; but God has a second expectation for us, to frequently
II. Contemplate Our DESTINY (9-10)
God doesn’t want us just to think about heaven on the deathbed, or to think about all that we have in Christ just when we take communion. He wants us to frequently daydream about what He has done for us and what awaits us.
A. Escaping WRATH (9a)
• Whose wrath? God’s wrath which is revealed from heaven…
B. Receiving SALVATION (9b)
• Note that salvation is something we receive
• And salvation is something God maintains
C. Having BENEFITED by Jesus’ death (9c-10a)
• Christ died for all, but not everyone benefits from Christ’s death
D. DESTINED to always be with the Lord (10b)
• God did not appoint us to receive wrath but to obtain salvation
• ??’???? = used 100 times in NT; NIV most often translates it as, "put, place or laid down"; I like to use the term "orchestrated" The picture is of God setting a stage…
Those of us who are in Christ have great privileges, like a heads-up knowledge of end time events; nonetheless, with great privilege comes great responsibility.
The first expectation God has for us is to:. BECOME Who We ARE ; His second expectation for us, to frequently Contemplate Our DESTINY. His third expectation is:
III. Focus on Building Up Our CHURCH-MATES (11)
Too many Christians come to church to get something; the thought of connecting to and helping others in the church family rarely crosses their minds. We cannot separate our vertical praise of God from our horizontal concern for our brothers and sisters.
A. ENCOURAGE other believers (11a)
1. Encourage (Greek, ?????????, English parakaleo) used of the Holy Spirit
2. "One another" = mutuality
B. BUILD UP other believers (11c)
"with these words" implies we must learn and apply Scripture, not as a prescription, but as a basis for our consolation
David Guzik writes, "When we have our first interest in building up other Christians, then God will edify us. The vision is of a church full of active participants, not passive spectators." Do you consider yourself an active participant or passive spectator?
Edify in the New Testament means, "build up, encourage, nurture one’s faith…"
Stephen Renn. It is usually translated "build up" in the NIV.
C. CONTINUE the good work you’ve started (11d)
Some people frustrate others by constantly raising the bar. We all fall short, but if we kept growing, taking 10 steps forward and 9 back, we are making progress. Consider:
• Roughly 60% of all basketball shots made don’t go in. 25% of all batters make it to first base. In an oil company, only 10% of oil wells drilled hit oil. For actors, only 1 out of 30 auditions turns up in something that is of value. Two out of 5 investments are winners. (Sermoncentral)
Those of us who are in Christ have great privileges, like a heads-up knowledge of end time events; nonetheless, with great privilege comes great responsibility.
The first expectation God has for us is to:. BECOME Who We ARE ; His second expectation for us, to frequently Contemplate Our DESTINY. His third expectation is: Focus on Building Up Our CHURCH-MATES
